In the Dark

Chapter 5

Demetri sat atop his maned elk, standing in the crossway of the stone path connecting Jongvale to the capital city of Malatia. The army had already been sent back, as it was imperative to get the injured back home and tended to. Demetri had stayed, however, with several good men to hunt down his son who'd been lost in the storm. He'd hoped when the storm cleared his son would return without much hassle, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Still no sign of him, my lord," said Ivan who trotted his mount out of the woods.

Demetri growled. "Anyone else would have returned to us by now," he snarled. "Anyone else would have been able to wait out the storm safely and wouldn't require a search party to recover them."

"I remember when you were young and ventured into the wild for the fun of it, fighting bears and dire wolves. A storm never stopped you from returning home when you were expected, either," Ivan appraised.

"Riccardo's nothing like me," Demetri grumbled. "Weak. That's what he is. He best have prayed to the gods for the storm to have killed him quickly. It will be more mercy than if he returns at this point."

"He will return," said Ivan. "And you will hammer him into stronger steel. It has been a process, I know, but you are more than capable of the task."

Demetri let out a soft, frustrated growl as he looked back at the woods. Ruben was next to rejoin them, his gryphon gliding down from over the trees and landing near them.

"I could not find him, my lord," Ruben said, ears back. "I apologize. I had a duty to him - to you."

"It is no fault of yours, Ruben," Demetri assured. "It's Riccardo. It's his incompetence."

At this moment, Luka came out from the woods on foot. He stepped lightly over the snow, more graceful and quick than any human could have been. "I've been unable to spot him," he informed as he joined the others.

Demetri growled again and spurred his mount as he turned it about. "Hours wasted on finding him," he complained, riding back into town. "He's more trouble than he's worth. Truly he is."

"Perhaps we leave him," Ivan suggested. "Let him build character finding his own way home. Injured, cold, hungry: it would do him good to struggle."

"Are you suggesting I'm too soft on him," Demetri asked, frowning in deep disapproval.

"His life is easier than ours were as boys," Luka added. "We built this kingdom with our own two hands. Riccardo has only known the spoils of our work."

"I would not say soft is the right word, though," Ruben added his input. "No one thinks you to be soft, my lord."

"Mm..." From anyone else, he might doubt the meaning of those words, but Ruben was one of the few men he trusted with his life and the man had proven his loyalty time and time again.

"I found him," a voice called and had all heads turn to face. Galloping towards them was the last member of their party. Valentin's red hair starkly contrasted against the tree bark and snow set as his backdrop. "I spotted his gryphon walking with a small party on the westward road," Valentin explained, slowing his maned elk as he approached.

"The west road," Demetri repeated, glancing off in that direction. "You mentioned he was with a small party. Who?"

"They looked like the desert people of The Underground City," Valentin explained. "Mahvash and her people perhaps? They were coming this way."

"Running late to their invitation for the party," Ivan remarked. "And found our young prince on the way. How lucky for him."

"Just what we needed," Demetri said, turning his elk about-face. "To give our allies any reason to believe we're weak."